Safety-lock for dump-cars.



C. W. STICKLER. SAFETY LOCK FOR DUMP CARS APPLICATION HLED APR. 1. 19m.

Patented May 8, 191?.

CHARLES W. STICKLER, F LANSFORD, PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFETY-LOOK FOR DUMP-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 8, ierz.

Application filed April 1, 1916. Serial No. 88,332.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES WV. STICK- LER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Lansford, in the county of Carbon and State ofPennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety-Locksfor Dump-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in dump cars or othervehicles wherein the body is adapted to be tipped or tilted to dump theload therefrom, and it relates more particularly to cars which areadapted to be tipped or tilted at the end or at some other portion of atrack, tipples being commonly used in coal mining and other operationsfor tilting cars to dump the loads therefrom.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a safety latch whichwill operate with certainty to prevent unlocking of the dumping gate ofthe car While the car is in transit and which latch will be releasableto permit unlocking and opening of the gate when the load is to bedumped, the latch .being preferably released automatically by the tipplebumper or any other suitable obstruction or projection when the car isbrought into position where the load therein is to be dumped.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in certain improvements,and combinations and arrangements of parts, all as will be hereinaftermore fully described, the novel features being pointed out particularlyin the claims at the end of the specification.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is an elevation of one end of adump car equipped with a safety latch embodying the present invention,the latch being shown by the full lines in locked position and by thedotted lines in unlocked position.

Fig. 2 represents an end view of the car as viewed from the right inFig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a portion of the car in dumping position.

Fig. 1 represents a section on the line 41 of Fig. 2.

Similar parts are designated by the same reference characters in theseveral views.

The present invention is applicable generally to dump cars or othervehicles wherein the body containin the load is adapted to be tipped ortiltec to discharge the load therefrom, the load being normally retainedwithin the car when the latter is in a level position by a gate which isusually in the end of the car, and suitable catches are provided forholding the gate in closed position. Preferably, and as shown, theinvention is used in connection with a dump car pro vided with a dumpinggate constructed in accordance with that shown in my prior Patent, No.1,105,46t, granted July 28, 1914. While the invention is preferably usedin connection with a dumping gate of that character, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not restricted to a dumping gate ofthis particular type, as the invention is applicable to dumping gates ofequivalent or similar construction.

In the present instance, 1 designates a portion of the body of the car,2 the wheels which support the same to travel on a track or otherroadway, and a gate 3 serves to close one end of the body of the car,this gate when opened permitting the contents of the car to be dumped.In the present instance, the gate is provided at or near its upper endwith a pivot or gate rod 4: which extends through the upper portion ofthe gate and has its ends arranged to operate in rearwardly and upwardlyinclined slots 5 which are formed in castings or members 6 fastened tothe upper rear corners of the sides of the car body. Suitable means isalso provided for holding the lower portion of the gate in closedposition, such holding means being releasable, when the car body istilted, to discharge the contents of the car. The means for holding thelower portion of the gate in closed position comprises, in the presentinstance, a detent 7 which is fixed at each side of the car body, and apair of bars or catches 8 which latter are pivoted on the gate at 9 andare guided toward their outer ends by cleats 10 whereby the outer orfree ends of the bars 8 may have a limited vertical movement relativelyto the gate. The outer ends of the bars or catches 8 are adapted to restin the notches or recesses 11 of the detents when the gate is in closedposition, outward swinging of the lower portion of the gate being thenprevented. The detents 7 also preferably have inclines 12 leading to therecesses or notches 11 to lift the bars or catches 8 as the gate swingsinto closed position, whereby the bars or catches acting as latches willreengage and become locked by the detents.

In coal mining and other operations, dump cars are used for handlingcoal or other material, and these cars are conveyed along the tracks topoints where the loads in the cars are to be dumped. It is also commonto employ in such connections tipples or tiltable platforms which arelocated at the dumping points, the car passing upon these tipples ortilting platforms whereupon the car is tiltel by tipping of the tippleand the load is thereby discharged from the car. In the presentinstance, a portion of a tipple 13 is shown, the tipple having at theend of each rail a horn, bumper or obstruction 1-1 with which the wheelsof the car engage whereby the motion of the car is arrested.

In. dumping a car having a gate constructed as hereinbefore described,the longitudinal tilting of the car, due to rocking of the tipple,causes the load within the car body to press against the gate from theinside thereof. lihis pressure acting on the upper portion of the gatecauses the same to move outwardly, and owing to the engager ment of thepivot pins l on the gate in the upwardly and outwardly inclined slots 5in the members 6, the gate will be lifted. Lifting of the gate willcause the lower ends of the cleats 10 which bear against the under sidesof the bars or catches 8 to lift the catches out of the notches orrecesses 11 in the detents, and the lower portion of the gate is thenfree to swing outwardly to per- ,mit discharge of the load from 'thecar, as

indicated in Fig. 3. hen the car is restored to its normal or horizontalposition, the gate swings by gravity into closed position about itspivots 4: as a center, and the bars or catches 8 will automaticallybecomelatched with the detents 7.

It is desirable, however, to provide means for preventing disengagementof the gate holding catches from the detents during transit of the car.The present invention provides a simple and eflicient device foraccomplishing this purpose, and in its preferred form this device iscapable of acting automatically to unlock the gate-holding catches whenthe car is brought to the dumping point. The safety locking device justdescribed may be constructed in various ways. In the present instance,it comprises a sliding bar 15, one of these being provided toreciprocate on each side of the car body so as to assume a positionabove the respective bar or catch 8 to lock the same with its respectivedetent 7 or to clear the top of the bar or catch 8 and thereby permitrelease of the same from its detent. 1n the present instance, a lever 16is provided for actuating each sliding bar 15, each lever being pivotedat 17 on a support 18 fastened to the respective side of the car, andthe lower end of each lever 16 has an inturned end 19 which provides anoperating projection arranged in front of the respective car wheel andin a position to be engaged bythe'horn 14; of the tipple or by anequivalent part which serves to actuate it, A stationary guide 20 may besecured to each side of the car to guide the respective levers 16, andeach of these levers and its cooperating parts may be covered by acasing or guard plate 21. The lower end of each lever 16 may further beguided by a plate 22 secured to the respective sides of the car frame.In a construction such as that just described, the levers 16 willnormally hang by gravity in a nearly vertical position from their pivots17, the locking bars 15 connected to these levers then occupying thepositions above the catches 8 and hence the catches will be positivelylocked in engagement with the detents 7. The parts are in this positionduring transit of the car, and accidental unfastening and opening of thegate is effectually prevented. When, however, the car reaches thedumping point, the levers 16 are swung toward the car wheels 2, therebywithdrawing the bars 15 from above the catches 8 and the latter may thenbe disengaged from their detents 7. Preferably, the operating portions19 of the levers 16 are located in such positions that, as the car isbrought into the dumping position, these operating portions will beengaged by the horns 1a of the tipple or by some other suitableobstruction, the continued movement of the car causing the levers 16 tobe swung toward the wheels 2, whereby the bars 15 will be withdrawnautomatically from above the catches 8. lilting of the car, whichimmediately follows, causes the catches to be unfastened and the gateopened in the manner hereinbefore described. After the load has beendumped, the car is re- 1% turned to its level position, the catches arereengaged with the detents, and as the car is moved away from the horns14C, thelevers 16 are permitted to swing by gravity toward theirvertical position, the bars 15 being then automatically shifted intoposition to lock'the catches 8 from disengagement relatively to theirdetents.

I claim as my invention p 1. In a dump car having an upwardly movablegate for unloading it, and a catch projecting laterally from and movablewith the gate for holding the gate in its lower closed position, saidcatch being releasable to unfasten the gate by upward movement of thegate, a device cooperative with the catch to lock the gate in its lowerclosed position during transit of the car and having a pendant'portionnormally holding said device in looking position and adapted to beactuated by an obstruction or projection to retract said device andthereby automati cally unlock the catch and permit upward movementthereof and of the gate as the car is brought to the dumping point.

2. In a dump car adapted to be used in connection With a tipple, thecombination of a gate for unloading he contents of the car, a catchcarried by the gate for holding the latter in closed position, the gateand catch being movable downwardly and up Wardly to fastened andunfastened positions respectively, and a horizontally slidable boltmovable into a position above the catch to lock the same and the gate intheir lowered fastened position during transit of the car, said beltiiaving a lever pendant therefrom and in position to engage a part ofthe tipple to automatically unlock the catch as the car is brought tothe dumping point,

3. in a dump car having a gate or du1nping the contents thereof, and acatch for holding the gate in closed position, the gate and catch beingmovable downwardly and upwardly to fastened and unfastened posi tionsrespectively, a latch movable into a po ition above the catch to lockthe same in gate-holding position during the transit of the car, andmeans for retracting said latch to unlock the catch when the car isbrought te th dumping point, said latch having means for automaticallymoving it into a position locl; the catch as the latter is returned togate-holding position.

In a dump car having a gate for unloading the same and a catch forholding the gate in closed position, the gate and catch being movablevertically into fastened and unfastened positions, a device operative tolock the catch in gate-holding position during transit of the car, saiddevice having a member movable into a position above the catch to retainthe latter in gate-fastening position and also a cooperating partmovable in a direction longitudinally of the car and adapted to engage aprojection as the car is brought to the dumping point, therebyautomatically unlocking the catch.

5. In a dump car, a load discharging gate pivotally mounted thereon,means for holding the lower portion of the gate in closed positionembodying a detent fixed on the body of the car and a catch carried byand having a limited vertical movement relatively to the gate andadapted to cooperate with the detent, and means operative by thepressure of the load against the gate for lifting the latter and saidcatch and thereby disengaging the catch from said detent, said catchbeing movable vertically independently of the gate to reengage With saiddetent.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of tWosubscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES W. STICKLER. Witnesses:

SAMUEL BOYLE, J11, JOHN HOFFMAN.

Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. (7.

